The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
13 
Notes from a Maryland Garden 
December 20. —Mark Twain nnee said 
flint in tbe eastern part of this country 
there i« no climate—only weather. The 
past few days have reminded me of this. 
I.ast week we had snow on two days. but. 
il disappeared as soon as the sun came 
out. Sunday the weather man said would 
be cloudy and much colder. The fact 
was that we had -a cloudless sky and a 
noon temperature of TO. while the next 
day the papers told of a furious storm 
north <>f us. A groat country, surely. 
The grass seems all the greener for the 
snow that was melted into its roots last 
week, and as tomorrow is the end of Au¬ 
tumn by the almanac, and the days will 
soon he lengthening, we may look for 
cold weather, and we have plenty of it 
during January and up to the middle of 
!■ ehruary: after that the most treacher¬ 
ous weather of the season. It may turn 
hot .and bring out the blossoms on the 
truit trees, and then go to freezing .again, 
ns it did last Spring, and destroyed the 
finest show of bloom we ever bad. If the 
Spring weather was as uniform as our 
Fall weather we would have something 
like what Mark called climate. 
Yesterday one man had started putting 
flip manure in his cantaloupe hills. After 
Christmas all the farmers will be busy 
doing the same thing for the cantaloupes 
and watermelons. The manure used is 
always fresh, and they find that it is an 
advantage to get it in early and give 
time for it to decay a little. They find 
that with many crops stable manure, 
later supplemented with commercial fer¬ 
tilizer carrying a larger percentage of 
phosphoric acid and potash, gives greatly 
better results than manure alone or fer¬ 
tilizer alone. It is generally conceded by 
lettuce growers here and in the South that 
tin- best head lettuce demands both fer¬ 
tilizer and manure, and there are many 
sweet potato growers here who claim that 
they cannot grow the best crops with 
commercial fertilizer alone, but must have 
the manure to some extent. Many of 
them are paying very exorbitant prices for 
the Xew York manure, which is getting 
scarcer every year, as fewer horses are 
kept in the city. Some are now using the 
dried sheep manure from Chicago in tbe 
melon hills. I have tried this several 
times, but have never g<>t any satisfac¬ 
tory results from its use. I would like to 
see a chemical analysis of this stuff, for 
it seems in ray experiments that the nitro¬ 
gen has been largely driven off in the 
process of preparation. T’sod heavily m 
the melon hills it may give better results 
than in my case, spread broadcast. One 
large trucking firm in North Carolina 
keeps over 100 cows and runs milk wag¬ 
ons in the city, and would keep them go¬ 
ing if tbe milk only paid expenses for the 
sake pf the manure, which they rot down 
in long shallow piles months before using 
for their Winter crops of lettuce, spinach 
and cabbage. But every trucker is not 
situated so that he can run a dairy, and 
hence the importance of getting manure 
or a good substitute. 
A few years ago I induced a friend to get 
out some muck from a pond on bis place 
in the Fall. Ties pond was in a natural 
drain from a town of over 2.0(10 people a 
mile away, and doubtless more or less 
sewage matter came down tbe little 
stream. The muck was taken out iu the 
Fall and slaked lime sprinkled through it. 
It lay exposed to the frost all Winter, 
and in Spring stable manure was added 
to tlit* extent of one-fourth the bulk, and 
well mixed. This compost was used in 
the melon bills with very good effect, and 
I feel sure that our growers would save 
money by mixing their New York manure 
in the Fall with muck or wood mold in¬ 
stead of putting it at once in the lulls. 
They would not need to buy so much ma¬ 
nure. and would get just as good results 
from the compost and the subsequent use 
of fertilizer. Certainly some means f r 
making the manure go further will have 
to be used. The street sweepings were 
formerly used and were good. But of 
late there is far less manure in these 
sweepings, and far more gasoline and 
hydrocarbon oils, and damage lias been 
seen from the presence of these oils. As 
the deposits from the sewer basins are 
now [itit on the dump, this material, let 
stand in the frost till Winter, with a little 
lime, might be used iu composting iu the 
Spring with good effect, w. F. mASSET. 
-I r ” 
who make progress take acl 
vantage of opportunity. 
Today there is a chance to replace the 
Potash losses of the past years at very 
low prices. 
The current wholesale prices of fertilizer 
material show that Potash is the cheapest 
plant food used in fertilizers. 
There is a fair supply in this country. 
Plenty more can be brought in. 
It will pay you to take up the matter with your 
fertilizer dealer and let him understand that 
you want goods with from 4 to 10 per cent of 
actual Potash. Do it now so that there will be 
ample time to have the desired goods made up 
and delivered. 
SOIL & CROP SERVICE, POTASH SYNDICATE 
H. A. HUSTON. Manager 
42 Broadway New York 
Mining and 
Transporting Potash 
POTASH 
PAYS 
>? r. * 
WAIT! fintW*>oubuy -n Krtcine, 
rat or. Spreader or any other •n-.fh 1 no. 17 M 
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300.000 dl«Of «o customers testify 
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■rSVl»T|, lows tyll ^ 
patented 
329 S. DIVISION AVI:.. GR AND RAPIDS. MICH 
THE only 
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made that cuts 
from both sides of 
the limb and does not 
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shears delivered free 
to your door. 
Write for 
circular and 
prices. 
HOTEL PENN-POST 
Ditch, T errace 
Special Offer 
25 MARTIN 
Farm Ditchers and Graders 
FREE-Get This Offer 
Cut now dttoboo f«ir or |rrlf*U-n, 
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PtU*» 
CvvenstioroCitdier&GraderCo. 
Boi 334 Qwcuiborn, Ky. 
9 CORDS IN 10 HOURS 
BATTS 
DOWX 
31st St. and 8th Ave. 
NEW YORK CITY 
Five minutes from anywhere, Opposite P«iui. Sta¬ 
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BETTER FARMS ON BETTER TERMS 
ALABAMA LIME LANDS 
B-st Schools and Highways. Long Growing Sea¬ 
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EMPIRE 
WAGONS 
STEEL WHEELS 
Low steel wheels (plain or grooved wide 
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***** wheels to fit any axle; carry any 
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r M PB R C Reduced prices C-atatos Free 
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Folding Sawing Machine Co.. 1S1 West Harrison St, Chicago, 111. 
Pulls ’Em Easy 
Cit M<;%» Rfuiticv:! Prices on the fu xt, 
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CENTERVILLE, IOWA 
FARM WAGONS 
low wheels 
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Wavion parts ot all 
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Agents 
When you ii'rife advertisers mention 
The Rural New-Yorker and you'll get 
a Qnick reply and a "square deal.” See 
guarantee editorial page. : : t 
